Torrance to Consider Banning Short Term Vacation Rentals

At the upcoming Council meeting Tuesday night, the Council will discuss regulating short-term vacation rentals (SVRs). The staff report notes an increase in popularity for sites like airbnb.com, flipkey.com, homeaway.com, and others, that allow property owners to rent out their homes for a short period of time.

The staff report acknowledges that most jurisdictions have not imposed any regulations on SVRs, but did note that some localities have started to address the issue. The staff report claims that Redondo Beach, for example, chose to ban SVRs outright while other cities such as Manhattan Beach and Santa Monica opted to regulate SVRs through a permit process.

The staff report also stated that the City has received a few complaints over the last five years originating from the Hillside Overlay areas closest to Torrance Beach. Those complaints asserted that SVRs caused disruption to the neighborhood as the “party houses” generated excess parking demands, noise, and unknown persons that could be mistaken for burglars.

The Council will decide whether to ban SVR’s entirely, direct staff to develop an SVR permitting process, or continue to allow SVR’s with no restrictions.

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5 comments

I think that guidelines should be established for those using the property with the cost of violations. I think that would take care of the wild parties. Many people using these kinds of service are seniors and they tend to be on the quiet side. Look at the guide lines for Bed and Breakfast.

Short-term rental properties essentially operate as and are in direct competition with hotels. At the very least, they should be subject to the same taxes and health/safety codes as hotels in the city.

These businesses have a negative impact on the communities by attracting a transient element to residential areas and cutting into the already limited supply of residential rental inventory, and artificially driving up rents, making it increasingly prohibitive for individuals and families to afford permanent housing.

They pose inconvenience and little tangible benefit to average citizens. Therefore, the city would be doing a disservice if they didn’t plan to regulate and draw revenue from these businesses.

I am not commenting to disagree with you, I only wanted to note that some of the same arguments you make here also could be made about car sharing companies like Car2Go. Not long ago the City fully embraced that venture much to the dismay of Taxi companies that pay large permit fees and property owners that found the vehicles parked in front of their homes a nuisance.

I believe there should be some type of permitting process created by those who plan to rent their property out on a short term basis (1-2 weeks or so). I state this only because those who purchase homes in a residential community have a reasonable expectation that they will have the quiet and peaceful enjoyment of their property, without their routine being disrupted on a weekly basis. While I by no means believe all persons who occasionally rent out their home (1-2 weeks per year) should be required to obtain a permit … I can see opportunities for some homeowners to habitually rent out their home to different people on different weekends (conceivably up to 52 times/year) … thus putting an undue level of chaos being a constant in their neighborhoods. Considering that people generally think of their homes as sanctuaries, this would prove to be a severe burden on their neighbors. A permit process could limit the amount of times per year the home is rented; the maximum number of occupants in the rental home during that rental period; and the fact that the owners have informed the renters of this City’s curfew law for minors (as well as other information and any conditions pertaining to the rental).

AS long as an existing truth of a demands at potential big market or current increasing market,No one can stop it!!! who can say our city has enough money to serve citizens and communities in the city,??? economic def not always showing very very good all the time! the cities don’t want to extra tax income ……..New things are always get banned back to our history of industry revolutions with cool technologies ……eventually u have to accept it just like Internet !!!!! another example is that every year people dead by gun shot ;even its more than our soldiers dead at overseas war; people still can have gun.ban is not the smart way but management well is!!! its not difficult to understand ban is not correct!!! there are more other issues in the cities, whoever can save more money can smile all the time whenever how bad economic could be cycling back.